Day 65

Deuteronomy 21-23

Today’s readings are the stuff that counter-apologists thrive on. Here are 4 short videos that capture some of the ‘highlights’ of these chapters. Pay particular attention to the second video – if you only watch one, make sure it’s that one, “Kicking 43Alley off YouTube”. This guy has made a great series of animated videos of bible stories (check them all out!), using bible verses for the text . And one of them was reported for “promoting violence and hate” and removed. The comments pretty much write themselves here, don’t they?

The videos don’t cover everything, tho, so make sure to read the chapters for yourself. Otherwise you won’t learn about stoning your child, procedures for hanging (is that before, or after, stoning?), cross-dressing, fabric content, mixing crops, the bride price for a woman you raped, how to poop in the desert, and the Hebrew name for a male prostitute.

Chapter 21

I do have a couple of questions. V 6-9 sounds like the origin of the phrase “I wash my hands of it”, which I had always assumed came from the words of Pontius Pilate in the NT. Could the phrase come from here instead? Was Pilate actually quoting Deuteronomy?

Chapter 22

V 17-18. I’ve heard there are orthodox sects that still do this. True or false? And if it’s true, what do they do about v 21?

Chapter 23

Joking aside, this verse is evidence that people once believed that god was a physical being.